Scam artists bilk Madison Heights senior

Madison Height police are warning of a sweepstakes scam after a woman, 79, was swindled out of $1,000 before he daughter learned what was happening.

Her daughter took her mother to the police station Thursday afternoon to report the incident.

Madison Heights Police Lt. Robert Anderson said the older woman received a sweepstakes letter in the mail earlier this month telling her she won $1.9 million.

The woman never called to claim the prize, but she was called June 11 by a man telling her that he needed $500 for a processing fee to forward her winnings to her.

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On the man’s instructions, the woman went to the store and bought a Green Dot prepaid money card for $500 and read him code numbers off the back of the card, police said.

The next day the same man called the Madison Heights woman again and she bought a second $500 prepaid money card.

A second man called the woman on Monday and was instructing her to get a third $500 money card when her daughter walked in and stopped her mother from repeating her error, police said.

“Most of these cases are tough to prosecute,” Anderson said. “The majority of them originate outside the country, so it is really difficult to track down and prosecute a suspect.”

Such scam artist like to target older people who tend to be more trusting, Anderson said.

“We’ve seen this before,” he said. “The new wrinkle is they asked for a prepaid money card instead of asking for a check or to be wired money. We always say if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.”